PDF Summary:Little Red Book of Selling, by Jeffrey Gitomer

The Little Red Book of Selling is a pocket guide to sales success featuring 13 principles of selling, along with numerous practical tips and techniques. The principles incorporate sales trainer Jeffrey Gitomer’s philosophy of sales: Sell yourself, give value before selling anything, and make the customer want to buy. Gitomer, the author of several best-selling books on sales, argues that while salespeople are always looking for the secret to sales success, you are either the secret or obstacle to your ability to make sales. The more you practice the principles in this book, the more hurdles you’ll eliminate and the more sales you’ll win.

(continued)...

To improve your humor, study humor, especially if you aren’t naturally funny. Here are some ways to learn to be funnier:

• Pay attention to what happens to you so you can reference funny events in jokes.
• Watch comedians on TV. Study their delivery and the audience’s reaction.
• Read joke books.
• Listen to children, who are naturally funny.
• Practice jokes with family and friends.

Safe topics to joke about include things kids say and do, traffic, and lines from television shows. In general, pick something that’s:

• Funny to you, so your joke is natural rather than forced.
• Personal: Poke fun at one of your personal qualities or features, but never make fun of others.
• Clean: Never make crude, ethnic, or gender jokes.

Principle #7: Practice Creativity

Along with humor, creativity will make you and your sales pitch stand out and be remembered. Here are four ways in which creativity can get a client’s attention:

1) At the start of a sales call, ask a smart, unexpected question instead of blathering on about your company and product. For example, ask: “How much does a lost hour of productivity cost your company?” or “How would you know whether you were overpaying for printing?”

2) Identify your customer contact points and change them so they’re distinctive—including the voicemails you leave, your cover letter, your phone greeting or voicemail message, your business cards, and so on. Fixing your voicemail message is the most important task because it can help you get new customers and act as word-of-mouth advertising (if you have a unique message, people tell others about it). Here are some ways to create a memorable message:

• Use a thought-provoking quote (change it daily)
• Record a message from one of your kids (“Hi, I’m Josh. Dad is out earning my college tuition…”)
• Make a joke. (“You’ve reached Tom at Premier Pest Control. Please tell us what’s bugging you...”)
• Record a testimonial from a customer. (“I’m Dave. I’ve been pain-free for five years, thanks to Wilson Chiropractic—I hope you’ll let them help you too.”)

3) Use creative follow-up methods to stay in front of the customer after a meeting—for instance, email a weekly tip, share useful information and testimonials, or send a newsletter.

4) Respond creatively to buyer objections. For example, when a prospect tells you she’s satisfied with her current supplier or product, you might respond: “Prospective clients often claim they’re satisfied with what they have—however, our customers tell us they’re thrilled with our product. Wouldn’t you rather be thrilled than just satisfied?”

How to Cultivate Creativity

You can develop creativity by studying and practicing it. Here are some ways to do this:

• Write down ideas: Creative ideas pop into your head quickly, then just as quickly vanish. So anytime you get an idea, write it down, and try to elaborate on it while it’s fresh.
• Find creative mentors who support and inspire your creativity.
• Read creative writers and books about how others have developed creativity.
• Be willing to risk failure: Failure is part of the creative process—it teaches you how to improve your ideas.

Principles 8-10: Sell Effectively—Get the Customer’s Attention

The next three principles focus on selling effectively by getting the customer’s attention, so she’ll be willing to listen to your pitch.

Principle #8: Prepare to Sell

Too many salespeople walk into sales calls without having researched the prospect’s business. Then they ask the prospect, “Tell me about your business,” which irritates her and wastes her time. They follow up with, “Let me tell you about my business,” which the client couldn’t care less about. Then, when they fail to sell their product or service, salespeople complain about the challenges of selling.

Instead of complaining, do your research on the prospect’s business by:

• Searching the internet and business databases for news and information about the company
• Studying the company’s website and literature
• Talking to the company’s customers, vendors, and competitors
• Consulting with people in your network who know the company

Serious preparation takes time and effort but impresses the client by demonstrating your diligence and interest in her company.

Principle #9: Meet With the Top Decision-Maker

After you’ve prepared, the next selling principle is getting a high-level meeting. You need a face-to-face appointment with the real decision-maker. Most salespeople deal with lower-level people. But underlings, who need to get additional approvals, won’t prioritize your case or present it as effectively as you do, so any time you spend with them is wasted.

As explained in principles 4-5, branding and networking can help you get past gatekeepers—if the CEO has met or heard of you, she’s more likely to take your call. But when your call goes through, you still need to sell the prospect on agreeing to a face-to-face meeting with you.

The first thing you must do is engage with the prospect—that is, get her attention by piquing her interest. Statements everyone uses that don’t engage include:

• How are you today?
• Have you ever heard of us?
• May I have five minutes of your time?
• Would you like to save money on X?

Prospects don’t want to hear about you or be educated by you. Instead, address your prospect’s greatest interests: profit and productivity. Tell the prospect you want to discuss how you can increase her profitability, and she’ll see value in meeting with you.

Principle #10: Give Value

After getting in front of the person who can say “yes,” the next principle of selling is twofold: Be valuable and give value.

Most salespeople have the wrong idea about value. They think of value as a small extra that’s added to the product—for example, a discount or something free. But your competitors can match these things, so they don’t increase your chances of making a sale. They’re promotions, not value. Value is something you give that’s meaningful to the customer.

First, give value personally—it generates goodwill that can translate later into sales. The author gives value through the business-building tips he provides through public speaking and writing a newspaper column, by connecting people who can help each other, and so on.

Second, in the selling process, address the customer’s chief interest, which is the value of your product to them. Value that’s meaningful to customers includes increased productivity, profit, and sales; more customers; a better image; and so on. Have a strong value proposition and present it in a compelling way. Instead of price, focus on the use and value of the product over its lifetime. Get the prospect to think about how much better her life will be after buying the product.

Principles 11-13: Sell Effectively—Clinch the Deal

The remaining three selling principles address techniques and responses that will help you close the deal.

Principle #11: Help the Buyer Convince Herself to Buy

The 11th selling principle—helping the buyer convince herself to buy—requires a key sales skill: asking the right questions.

Most salespeople ask the wrong questions and therefore don’t get the answer they want (a “yes” to the sale). Usually, they’re questions aimed at getting the buyer to switch from a current supplier to your company. They encourage a focus on price rather than value. For example:

• How much are you currently paying for delivery? If I could save you some money, would you switch…?
• What would it take for me to earn your business?

In contrast, the right questions help the buyer think about your product or service in terms of how it solves her problems or achieves her goals. They’re specific questions that uncover her frustrations, concerns, and needs, so you can show how your product will make her life easier—and she’ll conclude that she needs it.

Develop a dozen basic questions that you can adapt to uncover each customer’s needs, concerns, and frustrations. Some useful introductory phrases include:

• What do you look for in choosing a…?
• How do you determine…?
• What’s been your experience with…?
• What would you change…?
• What’s your biggest hurdle to…?
• What frustrates you the most about…?

You’ll differentiate yourself by getting your prospect to think in new ways. A sign of success is when the customer remarks that no one ever asked her that question before—and her answer convinces her to buy.

Principle #12: Eliminate the Buyer’s Risk

The biggest hurdle to a sale is the risk the customer believes he’d take in buying your product. You must eliminate the risk to get the customer to buy.

A risk is anything that makes a customer hesitate to buy. It can be difficult to identify the risk standing in the way of a sale because what seems risky to the customer may seem trivial to the salesperson. Common concerns or risks to the customer are:

• Am I making a mistake and not getting my money’s worth?
• Will I look bad or get into trouble for making a poor decision?
• Do I really need it? I might regret buying it.
• Can I get it cheaper elsewhere or get something better?
• Will it work? What if it doesn’t? Will it soon become obsolete?

These concerns indicate the customer lacks confidence in the product, company, salesperson, or their own judgment. Here are some ways to effectively counter customer concerns:

1) Prepare for risk hurdles by identifying the customer’s potential risks—for example, by considering how the customer has reacted to your sales pitch in the past or how other customers have reacted. Prepare responses or preemptive statements that eliminate these risks. Practice the responses until you master them.

2) Determine the customer’s risk tolerance—ask about previous purchases they’ve made and how those turned out. What were their concerns prior to those purchases and how did they overcome them? Then, address those risks.

3) Ask the customer, “What’s the risk of buying?” Then ask, “What’s the reward?” Then help her see how the reward outweighs the concern and the value more than meets the need. When the risk is low and the reward is high, customers will buy. When the risk is price, counter it with the reward of value.

4) Suggest a few concerns that might be bothering the customer and answer them—for example: “If you’re concerned that it might not work for you, remember that you can always return it.”

Principle #13: Let Your Customers Speak for You

The final selling principle—use customer testimonials to help you sell—is powerful but underused. Customer testimonials are effective because:

• They’re believable. When you talk about your offerings, it’s bragging, but when customers give testimonials, it’s proof of value.
• Done correctly, testimonials prompt people to buy. To prompt action, testimonials must make specific statements (“I improved my skills 100%”), not general ones (“The people at company X are wonderful. We’ve been doing business with them for years.”).

To be effective, whether in written or video form, a testimonial should:

• Highlight a benefit of your product or service: “I doubled my profits.”
• Address an objection: “I thought the price was too high until I tried the product and realized the value.”
• Make a call to action: “I used to use another brand but was dissatisfied until I switched ... and you should too.”
• Provide a happy ending: “My family loves it.”

Video testimonials, when shown at the end of a sales call, are an effective way to dispel doubts, reduce risk, and confirm the value of your product. However, while the video reinforces the sales message, the salesperson still must close the deal.